Effects  of Diversity on Ecosystem Processes: Does it matter?-David Hooper

           David Hooper, a professor at Western Washington University, has been crucial in development of the field of ecology and a key component in linking ecosystem processes with bio diversity. In his lecture "Effects of Diversity on Ecosystem Processes", Hooper talks about his publication "A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change". In his paper, Hooper and his colleagues used a method known as "broad analysis" or "meta-meta" analysis to look at resources in the science community and to compile an overall result of what is going on in an ecosystem. In this analysis, they looked at production vs species richness of primary producers, decomposition vs species richness of primary producers, decomposition vs species richness of consumers, and other environmental factors. They looked at 192 studies, 574 experiment, and 1417 effects size that all used randomized design to ensure that there was no criticism of the studies. Overall what they found was that species loss was comparable to other environmental factors.

Image Credit: Microbes

               One of the most interesting things in the talk by Hooper was his explanation for why there were such wide error percentages, which in class caused a lot of students to second guess the legitimacy of the paper. He explained that this was due to the fact that when you are doing a meta-meta analysis there will be a wide range such as a range of a loss of 60% - to a gain of 70% because it depends on the species that make up each monoculture and what is in that culture and the diversity and make up will directly effect those results. 

             After finishing up the talk on "A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change" he switched gears to another paper of his that is coming out in the next few weeks. This paper is a review paper that looks at types of diversity changes such as changes in number of types of "SPUs" and the effects of the absence of entire groups. 

         Hooper finishes with three main things that he thinks need to change to help in the advancement of biodiversity on ecosystem research. These were 1. there needs to be a better link between ecosystem functions and ecosystem services, 2. Expand our focus, and 3. Improve predictions. Right now in the linking processes and services, scientists are only looking at primary or decomposers, but he suggests that we need to look at the bigger picture and look at the two together. He suggests that we expand our focus by looking at patters of loss and by changing the scales of our experiments. When looking at patters of loss, we should look at interactions with environmental change, how much diversity is at risk, links between global and local species loss, and species richness vs functional traits of particular species. Finally, when changing the scales of experiments, he suggests looking at how change in landscape effect ecosystem services. With these suggestions, Hooper feels that the possibilities in advancement in this field are endless and invites students to really dive deep into the field of microbes and ecology. 

Organisms And Their Microbes

On May 29th Dr. Karen Guillemin gave a speech at the university of Oregon on " Molecular dialogues with the microbes inside us," (Guillemin, 2012). This was an inspiring talk that described the background of human knowledge about microbes, which until recently has been nil. And also described why further research involving microbes is necessary.

We have recently figured out the entire human genome and it is hypothesized that one day, within the foreseeable future, each human being will have access to know their own genome. Scientists have also found that humans have 10^14 bacteria cells in their GI tract, compared with 10^12 human cells in our body. These discoveries and the research that goes into it are very exciting steps toward knowing more about the ecology and interactions taking place on earth.

One of these important ecological interactions that Dr. Karen Guillemin discussed in her lecture was the interaction between organisms and the microbes that live within their guts. She pointed out that the most recent phylogenetic tree of life shows that most of life on earth is by far composed of microbial life. 

This phylogenetic tree of life shows the full extent and abundance of microbes on earth. Image: http://evillusion.wordpress.com/miscellaneous-facts-of-interest/

Realizing that animals, plants and fungi are the minorities here on earth is an important step to understanding and observing what interactions take place on earth and what is important for future research and studies. However we can still use many of the same concepts applied to our macro environments to relate to ones observed in the micro environments. For example, just as a forest may be the habitat for an owl, humans are a habitat for many microorganisms. Dr. Guillemin pointed out a study in her lecture that concluded that babies born by cesarean section had a similar microbiota to the nurses' and doctors' hands that were in the room during delivery, whereas in a vaginal child birth, the microbiota that colonizes the newborn is very similar to that of its mothers vaginal microbiota. Scientists do not yet know what impacts findings like these will inflict or what they necessarily mean for the health of human beings, but studies in this field are important to eventually solving these mysteries.

Dr. Guillemin also spoke of some of her own research completed through the University of Oregon Institute of Molecular Biology that uses zebrafish to study the interactions between organisms and the microbes in their gut. In order to do this specific area of research, she has developed a germ-free zebrafish to compare with the functions of a wild-type normal zebrafish. She has found that gut bacterial are integral to "...intestinal epithelial maturation, cell homeostasis and cell type specification, and the establishment of mucosal tolerance," (Guillemin). 

This figure shows the microbial presence (red) within a a zebrafish larva (green+blue). Image: http://www.molbio.uoregon.edu/facres/guillemin.html

This talk by Dr. Karen Guillemin was inspiring to scientists and all academics alike, showing that this research is important for future science and understandings of the interactions between human health and the organisms around us.

Another Talk by Dr. Karen Guillemin:  

Molecular Dialogues with the Microbiota: Insights from the Zebrafish Intestine

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgQo9j1m1w

References:

 Guillemin, Karen. "Karen Guillemin." Institue of Molecular Biology. University of Oregon. Web. 4 June 2012.

 Guillemin, Karen. "Molecular Dialogues with the Microbes inside Us." Microbes and the Modern World: From the Globe to the Gut. Lillis Business Complex, Eugene, OR. 29 May 2012. Lecture.

 

Protecting Biodiversity: A United Approach

Biodiversity is being threatened worldwide by tropical deforestation and oil exploration. So far, little has been done to decrease the rates of habitat destruction and the fragile ecosystems are quickly becoming decimated. Concerned citizens worldwide have few options when it comes to avoiding the exploitation of tropical deforestation as hundreds of everyday products originate from the resources which include: soy and cattle in South America and timber, paper, and palm oil in South East Asia (Ucsusa.org). As the destruction continues, an increased level of awareness is being seen in both scientists and economists. 

Deforestation caused by roads in the Brazilian Amazon. (Stephen Messenger Treehugger Exclusives)

So what can be done to protect the crucial biodiversity which drives so many ecosystem services and carries enormous levels of intrinsic value? Well, a proposal which has been around since the 1980’s is beginning to be taken more seriously as the situation becomes more critical. This proposal entails creating a trust fund for undeveloped nations where much of the deforestation and oil exploration is damaging the ecosystem. This trust would be funded by developed nations and would give undeveloped nations an alternative means of generating revenue rather than destroying the tropical rainforests (Rubinoff 1983). The fund would pay the undeveloped nations to leave their ecosystems intact and would further reward the nation for replanting lost habitat or allowing it to return to primary forest. In essence, the more old growth forest an undeveloped nation protects, the more money that nation can receive for protecting the world’s biodiversity.

A trust fund seems simple enough. It would be managed by an organization similar to the United Nations which would ensure longevity, protect the intentions of the trust fund, and enforce violations. A worldwide fund such as this may not give the average citizen a sense of change or helping reduce impact, but ultimately the tax dollars which pay for the fund may generate national pride. A worldwide trust fund supported by governments may not be the only solution. Smaller scale trust funds which could be funded by private donations may also provide huge benefits to the threatened biodiversity in undeveloped nations. Trust funds targeted at a specific resource or particularly bio-diverse area may also be effective at ensuring the land remains pristine and untouched.

 Oil pollution in the Amazon. 30 times more oil than the Exxon-Valdez spill has been spilled in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. Credit: SosYasuni

Currently, the first large scale trust fund which is being proposed by the Ecuadorian government called the Yasuní-ITT Initiative is progressing and may help keep millions of barrels of oil underground and eliminate the deforestation that would occur as roads, towns, and wells are built to support the oil exploration (www.sosyasuni.org). The Yasuní-ITT Initiative requests that foreign governments pay $3.6 billion which equates to approximately 50% of the total value of the oil which is promised to remain untouched and underground. Apart from saving the biodiversity in Yasuní National Park which is perhaps the most diverse area on the planet for tree, amphibian, and bird species, over 407 million tons of carbon dioxide will not by emitted by the oil reserves(yasuni-itt.gob). The English version of the Yasuní-ITT Initiative website can be found at SOS Yasuni.

A short documentary of the importance of the Yasuní National Park and the key role developed nations can play in protecting it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOX9rGaNpec)

The success of the Yasuní-ITT Initiative is still under review, but it may help spark other trust funds. The potential these trust funds have at preserving biodiversity where other efforts have failed is remarkable. Species conservation efforts often fail due to degradation of the habitat which ultimately started the species decline. Creating land reserves often fail due to a lack of enforcement which allows poachers to continue to take advantage of the resources. The downfalls of these two more common approaches are addressed by creating trust funds which only give money to nations who are successful at limiting habitat degradation and enforce policies which protect the species. Additionally, as new markets open up in the developing nation to ensure the criteria of the trust fund is met; local people become invested in protecting the environment as well. The driving force behind deforestation is money, and developed nations are beginning to understand and embrace the fact that if something is not done to protect the biodiversity worldwide, then adverse effects on the climate and environment will lead to decreased profits. 

 An interesting look at how the palm oil industry effects biodiversity at Wildlife Extra

 Palm oil plantation which destroyed thousands of hectares of primary forest. Credit: Matt Struebig 

How can we get involved? The first and most important step to protecting our precious biodiversity lies in education and ensuring our government and large corporations are doing everything possible to limit and reduce damage on ecosystems. Educating citizens of developed countries is just as important as educating the people of the countries that most threaten their incredibly bio-diverse and critically important species and ecosystems. Spreading the word can be as simple as letting a friend know about the importance of biodiversity and the key role something very far away plays in his or her daily life. Demanding companies increase the level of vigilance on protecting biodiversity is another very important step. As companies slow down the amount of mono-crop agriculture or cattle farms that they establish in undeveloped tropical regions, the security of the biodiversity in those regions will increase.

Protecting the biodiversity that the world takes for granted is not as simple as boycotting certain products or only buying organic foods. Though these methods surely help and the importance of such ideals are growing more accepted, more needs to be done and larger organizations need to see the true dangers of exploiting the rich biodiversity our planet provides. Although not every citizen may be able to eat exclusively organic or donate to a trust fund, each and every person is capable of voicing the importance of protecting biodiversity. Until the consumers stand up against business practices worldwide and governments take action, the world-wide biodiversity will continue to dwindle.

Microbes within us

Microbes have a very long history associated with human beings. In a human there are about 10^13 cells and about 25,000 genes, but within our GI Tract there are about 10^14 cells of bacteria, about 1000 species with about 2,500,000 genes. Research into what Pasteur and Koch called the "germ theory of disease," which is that diseases are caused by agents that could fester and grow and to help with any disease you must find the culprit behind it. This was the beginning of seriously looking into what caused the sicknesses many become inflicted with. Not until Flemming accidentally discovered Penicillin and found that it possessed antibacterial properties were many infections able to be treated rather than resulting in death. 

            There is a problem inflicting on the world of today though, what penicillin used to destroy is now resistant to it and many of the microbes that used to exist have gone extinct. Dr. Karen Guillemin asked, "Are human activities causing microbe extinction?" in her talk on May 29, 2012. Each human being is different in many ways, including the microbes that live on and within us, but could exposure to certain microbes, diet and genetic make-up factor into our microbe composition and how does this composition change through time? This question is still up in the air, but this is not the only question, there are many about the microbes and how they effect our lives through the health and sicknesses we endure.

            It has been found that the mode of a person’s birth, C-section versus vaginal birth, has substantial effects on the microbiota of the baby. A C-section has been shown to expose the baby to microbiota on the skin before any others, while a vaginal birth has been shown to expose the baby to microbiota in the vagina before any others. Researchers have not shown how this affects a baby later in life, but it could have an effect. Nursing of a baby provides nutrients, such as sugars, to the microbes living within the baby’s gut. Could breastfeeding effect what microbes are found in the baby’s gut later in life? Would it be different for a baby not breastfed? It has been shown in mice that diets do influence the guts microbial community, based on what food is given and the complexity of the food. Today our food is much more processed than ever before, could this be killing necessary microbes to keep us healthy and not allergic to foods? 

Bacterial 16S rRNA gene surveys reveal that the first microbiotas of human newborns are primarily structured by delivery mode. (A) Communities clustered using principal coordinates analysis of the unweighted UniFrac distance matrix. PC1 and PC2 are plotted on x- and y-axes. Each point corresponds to
a community colored according to the mother’s body habitat or the newborn’s delivery mode. All newborn body habitats are shown. The percentage of variation explained by the plotted principal coordinates is indicated on the axes. The white arrow indicates a pair of superimposed points. Vaginal samples were not obtained from two of the mothers who delivered by C-section.

Dominguez-BelIo, M. , Costello, E. , Contreras, M. , Magris, M. , Hidalgo, G. , et al. (2010). Delivery mode shapes the acquisition and structure of the initial microbiota across multiple body habitats in newborns. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(26), 11971-11975.

            Dr. Guillemin discussed David Strachan’s hygiene hypothesis, saying that if we live in a cleaner world/ environment we are no longer being exposed to allergens or microbes good and bad that could actually help us. Dr. Guillemin has done research on Zebrafish, a model organism, to learn about microbiota in the gut. This research has found that the gut environment influences the gut microbe community, which influences gut health. Her research engineered a zebrafish that is germ-free. This germ free zebrafish has been looked at to discover the impacts of gut bacteria and lack there of. Our microbiota is very important to our health and much research has been done that says microbes may affect us being prone to diseases. At the end of her talk she talked about things we can be doing today to cultivate the microbes in our gut, such as using antibiotics sparingly, and to avoid foods that our grandparents microbes would not recognize, i.e. stay away from super processed foods.  

The gut associated microbiota of a zebrafish larva. Bacteria are in red, nuclei are in blue, and fish tissue is in green.

http://www.molbio.uoregon.edu/facres/guillemin.php

Microbes in the Modern World - Dr. Karen Guillemin

In the third installment of Microbes in the Modern World, Dr. Karen Guillemin was asked to speak on the microbes that we harbor inside our bodies.  She spoke on the history of the study between man and microbe as well as the current understanding or the relationship, questions raised and the experimental approaches’ to answering our inquires. 

In the brief history she mention Antoni van Leeuwenboek and the invention of the microscope and how this was the transition from the concept that the human body was a sterile place, to an ecosystem teeming with life.  Next she spoke on  Robern Kock and the germ theory of disease in 1877 followed by Alexander Fleming and the invention of penicillin and antibiotics. 

After a brief reintroduction of the previous talks by Dr. Brendan Bohannan and Dr. Jessica Green on April 17th and May 8th (http://pages.uoregon.edu/grebes/microbes/Welcome.html) Guillemin posed a series of questions of the interaction between humans and microbes: what are the microbes in our bodies determined by: exposure/diet/genetic make up; what is the stability of our gut microbiota; does it change over our lifetime or over generations;  can changes in microbiota cause disease?

To explore this topic she discussed research done on infants, on how the method of birth dictates what types of microbiota the child has and also how breast milk contains sugars that feeds only the child’s gut microbes.  Studies involving mice found that mice that ate a balance diet rather than a western diet had a larger amount of diversity in their gut microorganisms. 

Now days we live in a sterile environment and there are health complications due to it: allergies and immune deficiencies‘ (having asthma and Celiac disease it makes me wonder if I should be spending more time rolling around outside.)   She mentioned the Disappearing microbiota Hypothesis proposed by Blaser and Falkow which proposes that there is a mass extinction of microbes that were important to humans in the past. 

Before concluding, Guillemin disused Zebra fish and how they are model organisms and the types of research that can be conducted with them.  Mutant Zebra fish that don’t have a gut rhythm can efficiently clean their intestinal track which increased inflammation and disease which was determined by counting the number of immune cells present.  Further study found that this inflammation was due to gut bacteria.

Guillemin concluded in saying that this research emphasizes just how important it is to nurture our gut microbiota.  She urged the audience to “only eat what your grandmother would recognize as food.”

Videos of the Microbes in the Modern World Lecture series can be found at: pages.uoregon.edu/GREBES

David Cooper - The Effects of diversity on Ecosystem processes: Does it matter?

When it was discovered that Professor David Cooper was spending his sabbatical at the University of Oregon, the Biology department asked that he give a lecture.  He asked the question: does biodiversity matter in regards to ecosystem services and processes?  To better explore this question he posed three other questions: 1, at what magnitude does diversity effect ecosystem processes relative to environmental changes, 2, what are the effects on things that people care about, 3, how are ecosystems changing.

He explored the first question by discussing a meta analysis he did, which we had recently read for our discussion class.  The paper looked at 192 other papers that all manipulated species richness in randomized experiments.  He looked at productivity vs. the species richness of primary producers and decomposition vs. the species richness of primary producers/consumers.  He measured average monoculture effect, best monoculture effect, and 50% loss.  Cooper found that there was a relationship between species loss and environmental change,

To answer the second question he said was both yes and no and that what the effects are on things that people care about vary greatly and as they are cultural ecosystem services, they are hard to quantify.

He concluded with the third question say that there is need for future research and to expand the focus, the patter of loss and the scale of the experiment.  But the message was clear, that loss of species richness is related to ecosystem processes.

Conservation Easements: Practical Compromise

What do you do when you want to protect a piece of land from development, over-grazing, monoculture farming, or other ecologically devastating activities? If you own the land, keeping it a piece of pristine wilderness might seem fairly simple: don't build on it, run too many cows, or grow GMO corn. The problem is, people don't live forever, and you don't want whoever takes control of the land down the line to let it become a parking lot. How, then, do you ensure your wishes aren't ignored by your ungrateful heirs?

Duck's Unlimited uses conservation easements specifically for the benefit of waterfowl. 

You use a conservation easement. The idea of a conservation easement is very simple: a landowner agrees to sell or donate certain rights associated with their property in order to preserve the land. Easements can take many forms, depending on the land in question and who the donating party is. Some easements prevent subdividing or developing, others protect water rights, and still others specify the number of cattle or other livestock that can be run on the property. 

No matter what the restrictions are, the easement is binding to anyone who owns the land in the future, and the private organization or public agency that buys or receives the donated rights agrees to enforce the landowner's wishes. Many landowners choose easements over outright donating the land because they still want to live on the land, and they'd like to allow their heirs to do the same. The public or private group (often a land trust) that buys or receives the rights stated in the easement are thereafter charged with ensuring that the terms are being met. Many states offer tax incentives for easements, and some land trusts help property owners manage their land beyond simply enforcing the easement. 

It is common to encourage ranchers to run bison instead of cattle on easement properties in the west, since they are a native species and much hardier than cattle.  

Though land easements have been in widespread use since 1976 when the Tax Reform Act granted conservation easements a federal income tax deduction, only recently has there been any kind of appreciable growth in the number of easements in the United States. In fact, the number of acres has skyrocketed from 500,000 acres in the 1990s to the 30 million acres listed in 2011. Many easements are focused on protecting certain endangered species. 

Currently, only 2% of the private land in the U.S. is under easement.Over a thousand land trusts in the United States use conservation easements, the most prominent being the Nature Conservancy. One of the largest and more well-known easement properties under the protection of the Nature Conservancy is the Flying-D Ranch in Montana, owned by Ted Turner. It remains a working ranch, relying on bison and hunting for income. Water on the property is carefully managed to encourage large populations of cutthroat trout. Some of the bison meat from the ranch goes into the "Ted's Montana Grill" restaurant chain. 

The Spanish mountains and the Flying-D Ranch.

The Nature Conservancy protects properties in all fifty states using conservation easements, and a few properties in other countries are making use of the easement system, though this is limited by local laws. Nearly 50% of the Conservancy's investments go into conservation easements. Duck's Unlimited is another major figure in conservation easements. Their target is mainly to protect the ecosystems that waterfowl depend on. There are many other land trusts with similarly focused goals, such as the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, Oregon Farmer's Land Trust, and the Conservation Land Trust (which focuses on South American properties and  is making limited use of easements where possible). The Mountain West region has seen the biggest explosion of easements, followed closely by forested areas in the Northeast. The American South has a proportionally smaller number of easements than the rest of the country, and many campaigns are in place to encourage more conservation in this region. 

Why are conservation easements important to maintaining biodiversity? They provide land owners with a way to protect their land without selling it outright. Responsible farming and ranching can coexist with healthy ecosystems with plenty of biodiversity. Perhaps these arrangements are not as ideal as keeping the area pristine, but they are also much more feasible than trying to buy up all the land currently using easements. Advocates for easements say that they fill the regulatory hole left by the various government organizations tasked with preserving wilderness. 

There are, of course, concerns in regards to easements. Many land trusts enforce the terms of easements without any assistance in actively managing the property. Some easements contain provisions requiring the land trusts to evaluate the property over some interval to assess the number of a particular species, or the number of cattle a rancher can run that year, but most lack this kind of oversight.

Owley's article Conservation Easements at the Climate Change Crossroads explains how some landowners might be put in a bad situation because of climate change and restrictive conservation easements. For example, if a submerged piece of land, drys out and the easement only prohibited building wharves, the land may no longer be protected. Alternatively, some easements protect only a very specific endangered species on a property. If that species becomes extinct in the region, the easement is no longer valid. The problem, according to the article, is that many easements do not cover enough circumstances to remain valid if climate change should alter a particular region. 

The solution, according to Owley, is for most easements to be more broadly worded, to contain provisions for amendments, and to have exact wording regarding termination, release, and climate change. Land trusts should be required in the wording of the easements to assist in evaluating the properties and ensuring that the "spirit" of the easement are being met. 

As the amount of private land in the US grows, easements are one tool that can be used to protect lands from development and overuse. They are an imperfect tool, and their relatively new status means that a lot of legal wrangling will be necessary before they become a fool-proof tool of conservation. That being said, for property owners who wish to retain their land and protect it at the same time, easements remain the best option. 

Bibliography:

Images: 

http://www.ducks.org/conservation/land-protection/conservation-easements?poe=GPPCAD&gclid=CNyY9PSZrrACFaEJRQodGy08UA

http://www.tedturner.com/ranches_Template.asp?page=ranches-flyingd.html

http://www.silverbison.com/

Papers:

OWLEY, J. (2011). CONSERVATION EASEMENTS AT THE CLIMATE CHANGE CROSSROADS. Law & Contemporary Problems, 74(4), 199-228.

WAYBURN, L. A. (2011). CONSERVATION EASEMENTS AS TOOLS TO ACHIEVE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS. Law & Contemporary Problems, 74(4), 175-197.

YONAVJAK, L. and GARTNER, T. (2011). GAINING GROUND: INCREASING CONSERVATION EASEMENTS IN THE U.S. SOUTH. WRI Issue Brief, Southern Forests for the Future Incentives Series, 7. 

--http://pdf.wri.org/gaining_ground.pdf

Websites: 

http://www.tedturner.com/ranches_Template.asp?page=ranches-flyingd.html

http://www.nature.org/aboutus/privatelandsconservation/conservationeasements/what-are-conservation-easements.xml

http://www.ccalt.org/

http://www.theconservationlandtrust.org/eng/mision_introduccion.htm

http://www.bisoncentral.com/faqs